Tulip Frontline Operations Platform

My main use case for Tulip involves working in the pharmaceutical domain on projects, where I have worked on multiple projects, including the main project which was the EBR, electronic batch record, where I have created multiple applications from scratch.

For the EBR project, I have built several applications, including primary packaging, secondary packaging, calibration, cleaning, and one or two more applications, though I forgot the names.

Mainly I have used applications for the pharma domain only, but I have also updated several applications which are already built in Tulip with the help of new features, such as changeover application, defect management application, and CIL and CLM, center management system application. These applications I have also updated and deployed to multiple sites.

Tulip offers great features such as being very quick in creating applications as it does not require any specific coding skills. It is a block-based application where I can add blocks, and for storing tables, it has tables. Tulip now includes AI and automation features which add more user-friendly elements, allowing automation to run for specific times based on conditions, even if I am not running the application. For AI, it helps me develop applications more quickly.

Regarding AI features, I find that Tulip now includes AI translation, enabling any text I write to convert to the particular language I want, whether it is Chinese, German, or Spanish. Additionally, I can capture information from images in specific fields and extract data from tables regarding past activities and KPIs, making it very versatile. For automation, if someone needs to create weekly tasks every Monday, I can automate this so that on Sunday morning at a specific time, the automation creates the task and assigns it to particular users for the entire week or any specific time.

Tulip also has another great feature called connectors, which allows me to send and receive data from Tulip to other systems easily by adding APIs to specific fields. Moreover, Tulip features dashboards similar to Power BI, which are important for visualizing data, making it a valuable feature as well.

Implementing Tulip has positively impacted our organization as we have transitioned from paper MBR and EBR to Tulip's online MBR, significantly reducing the time operators spent manually documenting activities, which also made audit trials easier to manage. Now I can see the batch process, track user activities more efficiently, and check audit trails, saving time and speeding up the overall process.

Regarding the weighing application, where users had to weigh samples and document all related information, I found that after using Tulip, we have saved approximately thirty percent more time on the specific weighing task alone.

There are several improvements that Tulip currently misses. For example, if I have a button, I cannot change its name as a variable. If the button name is "confirm," I am confined to a static value. If I could add variables so the button name can change based on conditions, that would be very helpful.

Additionally, I notice Tulip provides courses and videos in Tulip University, but some features are not covered. I would like to see more videos about Tulip features for first-time users to learn how to utilize them. Moreover, there is currently a lack of a specific widget that functions as a looper, and for automation, the lowest frequency can only run hourly. In one application, a five-minute frequency is needed, which is not possible at the moment, so reducing the lowest frequency option for automation would be another improvement.

Regarding Tulip's AI capabilities, I perceive that it is not yet mature and is still in the testing phase, with several features rolled out for end users. I believe Tulip's AI is in its earliest stages, but I am hopeful that future updates will introduce additional features. For security aspects, I find it acceptable since I have not encountered any significant issues; its limitations are quite minimal at this point.

I have been working as a Tulip developer for the last five years.

Tulip is stable.

Tulip's scalability is excellent; adding new applications, users, and roles is straightforward and only takes about five minutes to complete.

The customer support is very good and quick. Usually, when I inquire about functionality or errors within the application, I receive responses within twenty-four hours, and they are effective in handling tickets and explaining issues.

For the customer support experience, I would rate it nine out of ten regarding issue resolution, but I would rate timely responses an eight out of ten.

I have not used any other solution other than Tulip.

I have worked as a Tulip developer but also examined other applications like Mendix. However, I found it somewhat challenging due to its cluttered UI and overwhelming number of options. In contrast, Tulip is neat and clean and very easy to understand in terms of functionality.

My advice for others considering using Tulip is to go for it, especially if you lack coding experience; it offers an easy, time-saving application development process, making maintenance and updates straightforward in the future for additional users or application changes.

I would emphasize that Tulip is a fantastic application with many new features and applications available. Tulip's library functions are especially useful as users can download applications from the Tulip library, modify features, and begin using them without needing to build from scratch. I would rate my overall experience with Tulip an eight out of ten.

My main use case for Tulip is to build applications for healthcare industries and some product order tracking applications, to work on some HCL internal POCs, and many other applications that I build using Tulip.

Tulip has helped us minimize production manual work and paperwork while storing production data within Tulip tables. The impact has been significant in terms of resource availability and resource consumption regarding paperwork and automation work. Before, we needed many resources to monitor the production control area. Now, with Tulip, we can fulfill requirements and accomplish business objectives with a minimal amount of resources.

Tulip's best feature is the ability to store local data within Tulip tables. Another valuable feature is the ease of use; Tulip is a very handy tool where even no-code resources are able to work with it. Even an operator can work with Tulip.

The impact in terms of resource availability and resource consumption regarding paperwork and automation work has been significant. Before, we needed many resources to monitor the production control area. Now, with Tulip, we can fulfill requirements and accomplish business objectives with a minimal amount of resources.

I suggest that Tulip explore how Ignition provides functionality and add some features that are not currently available on Tulip.

I have been working in my current field for four years.

I have worked on some internal projects which are basic practice projects without any production use cases.

Tulip's governance and security are good.

There are no improvements needed for Tulip.

In terms of integration and analytics, I do not see any other special features that Tulip provides that other modern market solutions do not provide, such as Ignition, Siemens Opcenter, and many other applications. I have not explored Tulip's AI offerings. I did not work on the pricing, setup cost, and licensing as these are managed by the sales team. My review rating for Tulip is 7.6 out of 10.

Tulip is a Manufacturing Execution System designed to understand requirements and convert them into technical requirements. Lab processes that happen inside manufacturing systems can be translated directly into technical requirements within Tulip. Although other tools exist in the market, Tulip is one of the easiest to learn and is very user-friendly for anyone to use, even without development information or software experience. It is a no-code development platform.

One business process for a client involved reducing the burden on report formats that they generally used to generate manually through their local computers. Through Tulip, this is possible. It allows you to generate reports directly from your desktop. With the processes that you have already integrated, it also calculates the necessary items that are required for the reports to be generated correctly. These lab processes already need to be registered into Tulip and these processes need to be followed for successful report generation.

Tulip use cases include digitalizing your shop floor processes, connecting machines, and improving production visibility. Digital work instructions replace paper-based SOPs with interactive instructions that display images, videos, and checklists while ensuring that operators follow the correct sequence. Electronic batch records help you digitally capture manufacturing steps, record operator actions, timestamps, and material usages. All of these items are very important for simplifying regulatory compliance with FDA and GMP. Quality inspections allow you to perform in-process and final inspections, record measurements and defects, and automatically flag any out-of-specification values. Real-time dashboarding shows production counts, downtime, and shift performance. You can connect PLC sensors, barcode scanners, and IoT devices directly with the software to monitor machines. Traceability and genealogy tracking allows you to track your inventory and material inside the MES using barcode or QR code scanning. Work order management and material consumption tracking prevent the use of expired or incorrect materials. Audit and compliance features ensure that you have electronic records instead of paper, time-stamped operator actions, and electronic approvals, which could simplify FDA, GMP, and ISO audits.

The best features in Tulip are the no-code and low-code capabilities because you don't need a lot of experience in handling or establishing a business requirement to convert it into a technical requirement. Tulip is a no-code app builder that manufacturing engineers with no background in software development can easily use to operate, create operator apps, digital work instructions, and workflows without writing code. This can significantly reduce the dependencies on software engineers. Machine and IoT connectivity allows you to connect PLC sensors and barcode scanners, as well as instruments such as weighing balances and legacy equipment that can be used with edge devices and drivers. Open APIs automate data collection. Real-time dashboarding is another valuable feature that allows you to check all the data directly from Tulip's interface. These are very important items that are required for any MES tool to have.

Integration between other systems, such as SAP and ERP, or the ability to connect MES to LIMS databases through REST APIs, allows Tulip to fit into an existing manufacturing ecosystem.

Tulip can do a lot better in user interface. It is not complex, but it is rather not too simple. The user interface could be improved to make it more accessible to people and to market that product more effectively in the open market.

I have used Tulip for about six to eight months.

Tulip is very stable in my experience.

Tulip can be scaled at the best, like any other platform. It can be scaled to multiple users and multiple developers.

Customer support is great.

The client recommended that we use Tulip since it was cheaper in the market compared to other tools.

Other MES tools were evaluated as well. Other MES tools that could be compared with Tulip include Rockwell Automation and Honeywell's tools.

The most important aspect is the no-code and low-code capabilities, which I really appreciate from the platform as a whole.

If your organization has a small number of low-code or no-code developers, or people who don't have knowledge on how to create an application or integrate complex MES tools with Tulip, the platform can definitely reduce the effort and time spent on hiring particular developers for this tool. This would directly result in creating less pressure on the work environment. Tulip reduces paperwork because you no longer have to maintain multiple Excel files, Word documents, and PDFs. All of those items can be eliminated directly with digital workflows. It can improve productivity by having operators receive step-by-step digital instructions and allowing supervisors to spend less time searching for SOPs. Product quality is better because mandatory checks prevent operators from skipping critical steps. All of these items are very important steps in manufacturing execution systems and in business processes of manufacturing items that are generally produced in large-scale organizations.

Organizations should start using Tulip as soon as possible. It is the best tool right now for MES with a no-code and low-code platform. It has many capacities and capabilities like any other MES tools. I would rate this product an 8 out of 10.

I am using Tulip for digitalizing my client's shop floor MES applications. They are tableting manufacturing line, converting the physical MBR to the digital operations.

One of my client engagements involved being part of a core team that built eight connected Tulip applications replacing a tablet manufacturing line for the client. The eight tablet Tulip applications include a whole manufacturing line, starting from batch process applications, moving to weighing and dispensing material management, then tableting, primary packaging, and secondary packaging. These are the applications that I built for the client and these are the shop floor use cases for Tulip.

I would also like to add one experience and project with another life science client, which is a global digital operational excellence platform. Through this platform, we take up several common use cases from the client's side, such as cleaning, e-logbook, and asset tracking, and then globalize it and localize it accordingly. We create different Tulip instances for different sites while managing it globally. That is another use case that interests me while using Tulip.

Tulip applications are the common and basic features that Tulip offers. An application is nothing but a recipe for a SOP or a manufacturing order to which the application is being created. Another feature is Tulip tables. Tulip tables are an inbuilt Tulip database that is similar to a NoSQL database. A third feature would be Tulip dashboards. Dashboards are useful to track and analyze data throughout Tulip instances. Another feature is Tulip connectors, which are used for connecting different applications and different software to Tulip in an ecosystem.

One of the best features that I feel Tulip has introduced is more AI-related and AI-compliant features. Tulip offers an AI feature or agent that can connect to different Tulip instances and applications to create an agent so that we can use AI in Tulip itself. Another AI use case in Tulip is a Tulip chat widget, which is a widget that can be added into the application to give operators access to the AI feature. A third AI feature, although I don't know the exact name of it, takes the PDF of an SOP and converts that PDF into a Tulip application itself through AI. Those are the features that I feel are best when it comes to Tulip.

Definitely, AI in a regulated industry is something that is a concern of the clients. However, Tulip can stick to 21 CFR Part 11 strictly when it comes to Tulip's AI capabilities. Tulip has already started to look forward to compliance-related things. For example, Tulip's AI widget offers data reading throughout the site. It does not allow any AI to interact with external systems when we apply firewalls on it. In this regard, if Tulip continues in that way, they can definitely stick to the governance and security.

As of now, I didn't face any issue related to their AI capabilities. It is working fine but not accurate, which is a red flag in a GXP regulated system. This is my feedback on their AI capabilities. This has been introduced into the latest LTS version and needs more hands-on experience. Before that, I cannot give a direct justification or feedback on their AI capabilities being reliable and accurate. However, at the extent that I have used them, they are accurate and reliable as of now.

Tulip is an emerging platform and being a cloud-native MES, it has a lot to improve. According to me, traditional MES like FactoryTalk PharmaSuite has more complex features and user-oriented use cases and complexities that the application itself handles. However, when it comes to Tulip, all the things that matter are in the hands of a developer. That is something that Tulip can improve on. Tulip can switch to a traditional way of delivering in the pharmaceutical industry while keeping the cloud-native impact intact. One improvement that I can give an example of is that Tulip has application templates. Instead of templates, they can offer concrete applications to their pharmaceutical or any specific industrial client for their specific needs, such as a recipe designer and production management for a pharmaceutical client. Then production or material tracking or BOM tracking for a discrete client. In that way, I can see an improvement where Tulip can perform well.

I have been working in the current field for 3.10 years, and in that time I have worked with MES Tulip.

Tulip is stable with no downtime or reliability concerns. However, when it comes to large data sets, it sometimes takes time to load data from a Tulip table to the applications. The delay is about two to three seconds, which is not much but is noticeable.

When it comes to scalability, Tulip is much more scalable. Tulip suggested multiple sites and multiple instance approaches instead of staying on one interface. This solution addresses scalability concerns for clients when it comes to Tulip.

I have experience connecting with their customer support. When it comes to day-to-day activities, they are really supportive and they jump into our problems to solve issues from their perspective as well. I also have experience with their support while upgrading the instance for Tulip. When it comes to long-term support upgrades for Tulip, they are very supportive. I would rate their customer support 9.5 out of 10.

Previously, my client did not choose a different solution, but they have used traditional MES platforms like Werum's PAS-X, Siemens' Opcenter, and FactoryTalk PharmaSuite from Rockwell Automation.

I'm not sure about the exact numbers, but I can say that 60 to 70 percent of the development gets faster. When it comes to development, if a traditional MES takes three to four months, Tulip can do it within two to three weeks. That is one of the measurable things. In one of our client engagements, Tulip also offers analyzing station monitoring. Tulip charges their client on a station and interface basis. We saw a gap where according to the client's site and station, Tulip charges them. This indirectly has an 80 to 90 percent dependency on the use case. Those are the only metrics that I remember when it comes to cost and compliance.

In a general sense, I can say a client saves 60 to 70 percent when it comes to Tulip compared to the traditional MES when it comes to money. When it comes to time, it saves 70 to 80 percent when it comes to the deployment and development of the feature and digitalizing process.

Tulip costs less than a traditional MES and it charges according to the use case of the client. Those are the main three positive impacts that I can see our client's organization has positively experienced with Tulip.

My client and I are mostly of a pharmaceutical background. FactoryTalk PharmaSuite is one of the competitors that is stated close to Tulip when it comes to delivery. However, when it comes to cost, Tulip charges less than FactoryTalk PharmaSuite. The client has a traditional FactoryTalk PharmaSuite for their day-to-day production activities. On the other hand, for adopting a cloud-native platform, it switches to Tulip and stays relevant for the common use cases and simple use cases when starting it. It moves towards more complex MES solutions throughout the application development.

My main use case for Tulip is that I was the main developer and I am in charge of working with Tulip to implement it in our workstation on the production line, just to be used by the operator.

A quick specific example of how Tulip is used by operators on the production line is that it is used to have the traceability of that specific component or what is the current status of that line, about how many processes we have, how many operators we are running, how much time a specific operation takes, and information about time.

One of the best features that Tulip offers is having a bunch of connections with third-party tools such as ERPs and specific quality tools, just to have correct traceability of what is the concern about one client or something similar.

Those third-party connections, such as with ERPs or quality tools, have helped my team specifically by having a core integration with our ERP provided by Oracle, just to have the production status and how many pieces we build on the production line.

Tulip has impacted my organization positively by having an initial process where we have a reference line that we use to implement Tulip, and it was very useful because Tulip has a bunch of resources in their university.

The specific outcomes I saw after using Tulip are related to KPIs. We did not have anything about what is the process, what is the current time, what is the output. We had a blackboard that we put what is the current status about the production line. So the main purpose that we implemented Tulip was just to have a blackboard digitally implemented in the production line.

Tulip can be improved by implementing more AI features as we are in an AI era, and many features could be implemented thanks to AI.

Regarding the needed improvements for Tulip, regarding integration that you mentioned, because you have a bunch of features of third-party connections, it is not enough.

Tulip is a pretty complete tool just to use at the beginning with MES implementation.

I have been using Tulip for almost two years.

Tulip is stable.

Tulip's scalability is pretty good for having the first application, and if you want to implement improvements in the application, it was pretty easy to implement scalability and new features in that app.

The customer support for Tulip was great.

I did not previously use a different solution before Tulip. It was a legacy tool, and Tulip is the first no-code solution.

It was very easy for my team to learn and adopt Tulip, because Tulip has a university with very useful tools, videos, and articles just to have a complete way. If we have a question, we go there and that is it.

Tulip is pretty customizable for our specific workflows or industry needs because we have various processes, and if we need to customize that process, Tulip provided a very useful way to implement a customized approach.

Tulip helps me monitor and manage compliance requirements in my production environment in a pretty useful way regarding the KPIs and the graphic way, just to have a current status about production status.

Tulip integrates with our existing systems and data sources very smoothly. We encountered one challenge with connection about the ERP that we had, but there was no problem with that.

The user interface and overall user experience for operators and managers in Tulip is intuitive. It is a pretty easy tool for operators to use and for managers, and it was pretty easy to explain how to use.

Tulip helps my team collaborate, share information, or work together in a pretty easy way. We have different environments just to have a correct way, for example, the production, staging, or quality way, just to have the correct version about the app.

Tulip handles updates and maintenance seamlessly for our team. We did not encounter any problems about that.

Tulip supports mobile devices or remote access for my team effectively because they have a mobile version. If you want to implement a mobile or tablet version, we need to build it in the correct way, but it was very easy.

I have seen a return on investment with Tulip. The saved time was a pretty quick way to develop an application.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was very easy, but I do not have the status of that because I was not responsible to take that consideration or just to have correct access for that information.

Before choosing Tulip, I did not evaluate other options. We did not have any other solutions to take into consideration, and Tulip was a unique first way to implement applications in our environment.

I chose nine out of ten because it is very useful to have a specific tool in a drag-and-drop tool to have an application in a very quick way. That is the main feature and the main purpose that we had Tulip at my previous work.

Regarding Tulip's AI capabilities, its governance and security were great. We have Tulip on our servers and service in Tulip, and we have a very big security scale implemented in that way.

I do not have the correct answer for Tulip's accuracy and reliability of output because I did not use the AI feature. The version that we had does not have any AI features yet.

My advice for others looking into using Tulip is that if you want to implement Tulip in your environment, you need to take the first certification regarding Tulip. It was pretty easy and useful for me just to have initial steps to implement in our environment. Follow up on the Tulip University path.

It was pretty easy just to implement initial steps in an MES environment.

I rate Tulip a nine out of ten.

I had a university project to create a particular MES application using Tulip for a project. I mainly worked on creating MES applications for assembly processes, resource management, and machine maintenance using Tulip, which proved to be very useful for that.

Tulip is very easy to use because you can customize your own app or create your own app without having much knowledge about the programming aspect. You only need basic logic and very basic programming skills to create the applications. All you need to take care of is the user interface and the function of your app, so you can focus most of your time on the function rather than developing it.

The automation functions in Tulip were very cool and easy to add to our programs. Managing all the tables and everything was very easy to do.

Tulip was the core software which I had to use, so it was indispensable for my project and had a big impact on it.

Tulip made the process faster and it already had built-in templates. If you wanted to do machine maintenance, equipment maintenance, or track available equipment, there were already predefined templates. All you have to do is plug it in and customize it to your needs. It was very easy to use and made the process much faster. If I wanted to build it from scratch, it would have taken more than two months or one month, so it was relatively fast this way.

Some of the templates in Tulip had very few FAQ sessions or knowledge base information, especially the automation section. If there were more information on many of the templates available, it would be helpful. I could easily plug it in and understand the plugin rather than finding out how it works through trial and error.

The user interface of Tulip is very good, but performance-wise, it sometimes feels laggy when I am trying to undo my activities. When I do something and want to go back to the previous state, sometimes it may take a bit of time to do that. However, it is acceptable; it is nitpicking, basically.

I chose eight out of ten for Tulip because it is not perfect, but it is almost there. The only thing that would have made this an eight a ten would be the knowledge base. If it was a bit more updated or maybe a bit more detailed, it would have been an easy ten.

I have used Tulip for maybe four or five months.

I believe Tulip is stable.

Tulip's scalability is easy. If you want to add additional modules to it, it is easy to do. I think you have to go through the subscriptions and the purchase models. If you want to expand it, it is easier to expand or downgrade.

Customer support for Tulip is very good; it is excellent and very fast.

I have not previously used a different solution for this kind of project; this is my first time using Tulip.

I have not evaluated other options before choosing Tulip.

My advice for others looking into using Tulip is to go through Tulip University, study all the materials, do the examples, and then start the work. I would recommend going through the knowledge base website as well.

It is very good, but sometimes the logic had to be changed because I used Tulip not in a commercial application, but rather in an academic application. However, some of the questions were still asked in such a way that it seemed as though I was using it in a commercial application. Many of the questions were irrelevant to me, even though there was previous context that it was not in a commercial or business application.

I gave Tulip a review rating of eight out of ten.

Tulip is a composable MES platform that can tackle multiple use cases. We primarily use it for digital shop floor applications designed for frontline operators who need a screen and user interface to interact with both machine data and business data. This enables us to create various use cases including digital work instructions and overall equipment efficiency for machines. Tulip also serves as an additional layer for integrating with laboratory information management systems or ERP systems, making it highly versatile.

At one of our customers, we are currently creating the blueprint to replace their complete MES with Tulip, which represents a very different approach with composable MES compared to monolithic products. Using Tulip for this customer, we start by blueprinting the order initiation through integration with an ERP system and focusing on the workflow of an operator who starts an order on the production line. We then work on order execution, covering everything an operator does and needs to enter into a system when the order is being executed. After passing through the order registration, the system confirms back to the ERP what raw materials were used.

Tulip is definitely a platform that should be used in an agile way. After creating the first application, you start learning things about the platform and can reiterate that application while moving to the next one. Tulip is really about empowering people to build applications, and those people who build the applications are not necessarily only technical experts or developers. These are business process users who are now capable of making their own applications. Tulip can be considered the new Excel of the new era.

Tulip offers a no-code design editor to build apps and a wide range of connectivity features to connect to both IT systems and OT systems. The platform includes AI features so that you do not have to build AI on top, because AI is embedded inside the platform. This not only assists the application builders or architects but also enables frontline operators with AI capabilities without the technical burden or needing to subscribe to another platform or buy tokens. Everything is included in the same subscription.

The no-code designer feels as though you have PowerPoint. You design your application step-by-step, similar to designing PowerPoint slides. You drag visual components onto your presentation or application and then start configuring the visuals as well as the background logic in a very user-friendly manner. This enables everyone to understand what has been built by experts or start building their own applications. The AI-enabled features include automatic translation of applications to other languages using AI translation, or creating basic applications from a functional description or a standard operating procedure that gives you an automatically AI-generated application you can then start tweaking. AI can also be used to scrape documents, allowing operators to use a chat to converse with the documentation or manuals of their machines if available. Finally, AI can be applied in vision use cases, such as drawing a rectangle over a zone where your hand needs to pass before Tulip understands that you have taken a piece out of a bin, and then it moves to the next work instruction.

Tulip can be improved to have a lower entry point. Currently, it is a SaaS solution that starts with 10 interfaces minimum, and an interface is a screen where you operate Tulip applications. A lower entry model would allow small to medium enterprises to start using Tulip faster, whereas now Tulip focuses more on big enterprises.

Regarding the technical part, the data model inside Tulip needs improvement. Tulip works with Tulip tables which have a database in the backend, but the user only sees the Tulip tables where they can easily create tables and add new columns. While auditing features exist inside so you can see who has done what inside the table design, one of the shortcomings is relational mapping between tables. One-to-many and many-to-many relations are still quite unclear without the use of primary keys and foreign keys.

I have been using Tulip for two years.

Previously, we primarily built custom software applications for MES use cases. Now we are shifting towards no-code, low-code, and Tulip has been our platform of choice to build MES solutions for our customers efficiently. We also see the benefit for our customers since we have built those first MES applications, and now they are able to continue the development and work themselves using citizen developers. We are also applying a center of excellence strategy and really starting the snowball effect.

We are a partner of Tulip, so we are verified or certified Tulip partners. We buy it directly and sell it directly to our customers.

The time to value is drastically reduced; I would say more than 50 percent. In a typical monolithic project, you start by drafting all the requirements and making an analysis design, and you are easily one or two years further before you see the first results. With Tulip, you start building with very small blocks, and every two or three weeks, you have results. You then iterate faster because you can feel the results, and people become enthusiastic, so they are motivated to continue. Therefore, the time to value is reduced by 50 percent. Additionally, the application life cycle management is embedded in the portal, so you do not have to develop this from scratch, which leads to a total cost of ownership that will be reduced by 30 to 40 percent.

I would rate this review an 8 out of 10.